Althen des Paluds was named after Jean Althen who became rich by cultivating madderwort.The plant was used to make a red dye from the mid-19th century until the 20th century and used for soldiers uniforms in 1914. Althen les Paluds was the capital of the madderwort crop. Be sure to see the Town Hall housed in a former 18th century church , the 19th neo-Romanesque church, and the Moulin des Gaffins where madderwort was processed in the 19th c.
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